the golden age of something good and right
by yulbos
Summary: Harry gets his hands on a box of magic markers. It doesn't end well.


**Okay, so this is somewhat a sequel to** ** _when we go crashing down_** **but it doesn't have to be read as such.** **Apparently I am unable of naming fics after anything but song lyrics. This one is from 'State of Grace' by Taylor Swift. I haven't really revised this so there are probably a bunch of errors but I'll fix them when I fix them.**

 **Two things: 1) the cat's name is Rasco because it's my dumb attempt at a play on the fact Harry wouldn't be able to say 'Rascal' properly, and 2) I'm taking creative licence with the fact magic markers didn't come out until 1987.**

* * *

Lily knew something wasn't right the second she shut the front door behind her. Her keys tinkled against the side of the small glass bowl that had once belonged to her mother. It sat on a shelf next to the coat rack, where she hung her coat and her fingers brushed across the leather of Sirius' jacket. She toed off her trainers and balanced herself on the wall as she haphazardly straightened them with a foot.

The house would have been too quiet even if she hadn't known Sirius was there. The fact that he _was_ made the silence even stranger and she padded down the hallway to the kitchen with a frown.

There was no one in the kitchen, although there were three plates and two mugs drying on the draining board. She picked one of the mugs up and quickly dried it off before lighting up the hob and placing the kettle on it. Whilst she waited for the kettle to boil, she put the washing up away and spent the best part of a minute rooting around the bread bin in search of a raisin scone. She pulled her hand out, fingers curled around the last one victoriously and she ate half of it in one go. The kettle boiled just as she'd shoved the other half into her mouth and she quickly set about making herself some tea.

Mug in hand, she pushed away from the counter and wandered back down the hall towards the living room. The sound of soft snoring reached her just before she rounded the doorway and she felt a smile starting to pull at the corners of her mouth. She didn't enter the room properly, instead choosing to lean against the doorjamb and searched for the source of the snoring.

Her husband, best friend, and son were all slumped across the sofa in front of the window, their breathing slow and even as they slept. Sirius had spread himself across the majority of the sofa, his ridiculously long legs thrown across the cushioned arm and his head was resting on James' thighs. James was the only one sitting upright, the only sign that he was asleep was his chin having dropped down to his chest. Harry was curled up on Sirius' chest, snuffling in his sleep as the hand he had tangled in his godfather's shirt tightened.

Her gaze drifted upwards and slightly to the right and the smile instantly morphed into a heavy frown. She quickly deposited her half empty mug of tea on the sideboard, careful not to knock it against the floral plates James' mother had given to them not long before she'd been permanently admitted to St Mungo's, and stood behind the back of the sofa with her arms crossed over the top of her bump tightly. She tilted her head to the side, trying to figure out what the largest and most colourful scribbles gracing the bottom half of the wall next to the television set were. She could vaguely make out the shape of a few butterflies and what looked somewhat like their cat Rasco (or as Sirius referred to him 'that evil monstrosity'), but that was a far as she was able to get.

A minute or so after she had entered the room, James' breathing changed, hitching slightly as he began to wake up. Before he fully regained consciousness, Lily leant over the back of the sofa so that her head was as close to her husband's without them touching and waited. James was always a fairly quick riser, able to switch from asleep to awake abnormally fast, so it didn't take long until he was blinking his eyes open.

Her patience was rewarded when James finally noticed her. He didn't make a sound, he never did when he was startled, but he jumped so hard that he ended up kneeing Sirius in the head. Sirius woke with a curse and very nearly launched Harry to the floor as he sat up. He rubbed at the back of his head as he turned to scowl at James, the look disappearing when he realised Lily was standing behind them.

She didn't say anything, just looked pointedly at the wall and waited for them catch up. It didn't take them long and when James eventually figured it out he sighed through his nose softly, stroking a hand over Harry's head.

"Shit." He said quietly enough that their son wouldn't hear as he had the habit of repeating everything he heard.

The corners of Lily's mouth twitched as she bit back a smile. "Shit indeed." She whispered back as she brushed her fingers through his hair and pressed a kiss to the side of his head.

"Afternoon, Evans." Sirius said cheerfully, bouncing Harry on his knees gently when the three year old made an unhappy noise.

When Harry saw her, he immediately lifted his arms so that she could pick him up and she obliged with a light huff of amusement. "Afternoon, Black." She replied with a nod. "So, would either of you care to explain why our wall looks like an exhibit at the Tate?"

"Ah," Sirius said, rubbing idly at the corner of his left eye and smiling ruefully. "That would be my fault. I passed through town on my way and saw an advert in the newsagent's about something called 'magic markers'."

"So obviously you had to buy them." Lily rolled her eyes but didn't stop the smile from creeping up.

"Obviously." Sirius agreed with a grin. He stood up and stretched his arms above his head, ignoring the face Lily pulled as his shoulders popped back into place. James was glancing between them, his amusement evident as he scratched a hand across his stomach. Sirius held a hand out to him and pulled him to his feet.

"What's so 'magic' about these pens, then?" Lily asked, summoning the packet of colouring pens and reading the back of it. Harry unwound his arms from around her neck so he could clap at them happily.

"Colourin'!" He cried, trying to grab the packet and only missing because Lily dropped it onto the sofa. He pouted for a few seconds until he saw Rasco skulking into the room, at which point he pointed at the ball of calico fur. "Rasco!"

The cat froze where he stood, gazing warily at Sirius as Harry was lowered to the floor. The toddler quickly made his way over to the cat and was soon distracted. They all watched him for a minute, each of them smiling.

"They're meant to be easy to wash off." Sirius eventually said and it took Lily a few moments to realise what he was talking about.

"'Meant'?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. "Meaning you don't know?"

"Not yet, no." James supplied with a sheepish smile. "We hadn't got around to testing that part, yet." He looked to Sirius and if she hadn't known them for as long as she had, she wouldn't have noticed the tiny nose scrunch and she definitely wouldn't have known what it meant.

As it was, Sirius seemingly took over carelessly. "We _do_ know that the colouring part is top notch, though."

James coughed to hide an amused snort and the look Sirius gave him said that he was incredibly pleased with himself.

"So you've just defiled the wall on the off chance that the cheap Muggle toy actually _works_?" Lily asked, the annoyance in her voice lacking any actual bite and Sirius smiled brightly at her.

"Pretty much." He said.

"You're a menace." She retorted with a shake of her head. "I don't know why I put up with either you."

James scoffed and rounded the sofa so that he could place his hands on her shoulders. He looked at her seriously for a few moments and then pursed his lips. "Divorcing me would be far too much hassle. Plus the custody battle over Remus would be catastrophic."

Lily bit on her lower lip to keep from smiling and she swatted at his hands. "And the custody battle over Harry?"

"Oh that one's easy. You'd get him." James replied easily with a vague wave of his hand. "But he'd never be able to hide the fact that he looks like me. There'd be no escaping the fact that he's my son."

"God help him." Lily murmured, glancing over at their son who was still playing with an unamused looking Rasco.

James frowned. "That's not very nice, Evans."

"Neither is passing on your genes to our son." She said, glancing across to the clock on the mantle. "I should get dinner started." She shuffled off towards the hallway, snagging her almost cold cup of tea on the way and downing the rest of it in one swallow.

"You're the one that married me!" James shot back. "I suppose you want this mess cleaned up then."

"You created it; you clean it." Lily turned to look at them and pointed a finger at Sirius in warning. "Don't even think about it. You're helping."

"But I've got practice in an hour!" Sirius protested.

James made a confused noise and glanced at him. "Bit late, isn't it?"

"Wood had to rearrange it. Something about having to go to his kid's birthday party." Sirius glared at him. "Which you would know if you'd bothered to read the owl he sent out."

"What would I need to do that for? I have you." James smiled and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Besides, I had practice on Monday and he didn't say anything about it then."

"Gentlemen." Lily interrupted before it could devolve any further. "You're still helping, Sirius."

"Yes, Mum." Sirius saluted. He was closer to the wall and he surveyed it with his hands on his hips and his head tilted to the side.

James sighed and moved around the sofa again so that he was standing next to his best friend. "Come on then, love. Let's get this over with."

"Anything you say, dear." James snorted and reached out to push Sirius' shoulder.

Lily shook her head in exasperation and left the pair of them to it, smiling when she saw that the ingredients had already started preparing themselves in the kitchen.


End file.
